disclaimer: the City of Ember, Doon Harrow, Lina Mayfleet, and anything else you might recognize belongs to Jeanne DuPrau

Darkness

The darkness has always been there, surrounding them on all sides, kept at bay only by the lights overhead. The people of this city are taught their most important lesson from the cradle: never go into the dark, safety exists in the light. But lights of Ember are dying, and the dark is coming to them.

The blackouts come now with a horrifying suddenness that rips screams from children's throats, crashing down on the city without so much as a preliminary flicker of warning. They are more and more often, last longer and longer, and with each endless minute the darkness grows heavier, stronger, and greedy for more than just their sight. It's learned the art of stealing the other senses, muting the whimpers of the others in the street and dimming the sensation of pavement under your shoes, leaving nothing for company but the frantic throbbing of your own heart.

He's so angry and so afraid, and so alone in his desire to do something.

Until Lina.

Lina, who gave him not only true belief in his fears and an eagerness to help but actual clues, albeit quite damaged ones. Doon would have been further disheartened by the state of her document, but Lina looks at it only as a puzzle to be solved. Her proof might be in tatters, but her hope is unscathed, and with that joyous outlook she turns his crucial mission into a game, and his desperation into enthusiasm. And he finds, as he searches and decodes and sneaks and discovers with renewed fervor, that he might actually have a chance to save his city from disaster. All that was missing was sure-footed, big-hearted Lina Mayfleet, and her almost unbreakable optimism, and her dreams of a city where light comes from the sky. She fills his days- so dreary underground, with the rusty pipes and the slime on the walls- with adventure and smiles and spirit. She gives him faith. She gives him light- and safety exists in the light.